Bulletin From The Borderlands Weekly Round Up

Americas

Mar 14, 2024

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Regional Wrap-Up: Americas

Desk Chief - Brodie Kirkpatrick

Regional Flashpoints

Haitian PM Ariel Henry has agreed to resign in the face of a gang coalition campaign to oust him from office. He has been unable to return to his country from a recent trip to Kenya due to security threats posed by gangs to Haiti’s international airports. In a major win for the gang coalition, Henry will step down once a transitional presidential council is created and an interim prime minister is appointed. .
Haitian Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, the head of government in Henry’s absence, has extended the state of emergency and nightly curfew by a month. Security forces have had some victories in fending off attacks, but in total, the gang offensive has continued practically unchecked.
Caribbean nations are stepping up border and immigration enforcement in response to developments in Haiti. In Jamaica, security forces are monitoring the coastline for smuggling or illegal immigration. In Turks and Caicos, a group of over 30 Haitians were recently denied asylum status

Notable Regional Updates

A New York National Guard UH-72 “Lakota” helicopter crashed while supporting the federal mission along the Texas-Mexico border, Joint Task Force North, near the town of La Grulla. Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CWO2) John Grassia III, 30, CWO2 Casey Frankoski, 28, and Border Patrol agent Christopher “Chris” Luna, 51, were killed. Another soldier was critically injured.
A Caribbean Community (CARICOM) emergency meeting is being held between respective heads of government to discuss the crisis in Haiti. Representatives from the U.N., U.S., Canada, France and Brazil were also invited and in attendance.
Over the weekend in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, criminals set the Interior Ministry building ablaze and also targeted the Supreme Court building. Three downtown police stations were also attacked. Officers and National Palace guards were able to retake some streets in the city and set up a perimeter around one of the three assaulted police stations.
U.S. forces conducted an evacuation of non-essential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Haiti’s capital. Additionally, a Marine Corps Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) element was deployed to increase security at the embassy complex. The neighborhood surrounding the embassy is mostly controlled by gangs.
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was found guilty in a Manhattan federal court of weapons charges and conspiring to traffic cocaine into the United States. This comes after the president’s brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, a former congressman, was convicted of the same charges in 2019. Both brothers worked with the Sinaloa Cartel, then under the leadership of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Hernandez faces a minimum of 40 years in federal prison.
U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) General Frank S. Besson departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis carrying members of the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary). The soldiers will deploy to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea with the mission of building a temporary port to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Peruvian counter-terroism police have arrested an Iranian national and a Peruvian citizen for planning an assassination of an Israeli citizen at APEC Peru 2024. The Iranian man, Majid Azizi, has alleged ties to the country’s Quds Force, the military intelligence and unconventional warfare branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Looking Forward/Implications

The gang offensive in Haiti is heavily motivated by the potential deployment of a multinational force to the country. Gang leader Jimmy“Barbeque” Cherizier in particular has spent much time threatening PM Henry for his willingness to allow foreign troops to combat criminal groups. Haiti’s 9,000-man police force was already struggling at maintaining order in the country of 11 million people. The beginning of this united gang campaign has only made it more difficult to hold out before foreign forces possibly arrive to help. Gangs are estimated to control 80% of Port-au-Prince.
While the resignation of Henry was the major demand for the gang coalition, it is not clear that they will pause their campaign against government institutions. With his resignation, the arrival of foreign forces to restore order is even further out of reach. Today, Kenya announced that its mission to Haiti is “on hold” due to the lack of a government in place. The deployment will not move forward until a new constitutional authority is put in place in Haiti. Prior to Henry’s resignation, the mission was in the “pre-deployment” phase.
El Salvador has offered to “fix” the situation in Haiti, granted that it receives a UN Security Council resolution in support, the consent of Haiti’s government, and international funding for all operational expenses. Given the lack of a government in place, that option seems highly unlikely to come to fruition as well. Many of the likely candidates for a transitional council in Haiti are not in favor of foreign forces on their soil.
A witness in Hernandez’s trial accused the Israeli embassy in Colombia of laundering $100-150 million for Mexican drug cartels between 2008-2010. The witness was a convicted drug trafficker, who testified under the pseudonym Luis Perez. He claimed that an Israeli embassy official transported drug funds from Colombia to Honduras. It is not clear if that allegation will be investigated by authorities from the U.S. or any other relevant country.
The arrest in Peru highlights the wide reach of Iran’s Quds Force, as well as its proxies such as Hezbollah. Both organizations have a well documented presence throughout Latin America and have carried out terrorist and other criminal acts in the region over the last few decades. As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, and possibly expands to include other belligerents, Iranian and Lebanese influence in Latin America in particular should be surveyed by private and government security organizations.